It is hard to say that it was a good news week. Nobody dropped a bomb somewhere, contaminating atmosphere and blackening the sky. But, the infection rate around town has picked up and restrictions on gathering size have been rolled back. This means that we will have to watch our step with our gatherings after the game and split into appropriately sized groups and observe social distancing. Not only for our own benefit but for public perception and out of regard for the course management who are ultimately responsible for management of gatherings in the area that they allow us to use.
The weather was fine if a little chilly down on the flats and the persistent showery weather has kept the course a bit on the soggy side and plugging balls continues to be a potential problem in some areas. Pepsi almost had to dig in up to his wrist to retrieve one at the base of the hill on the 9th and it didn’t even belong to anybody in the group. But, the urge to play golf is still very strong and we had a fine gathering of 25 members and Mark Minney along to battle it out and/or fill the field for the final round of the David Ford Autumn Cup. The field was inflated by the return of some of the Priems clan after their anti-climactic family challenge last week-end which ended in a draw. Mark now has his handicap and is eligible for competition. If history is any guide, expect to see Mark on the podium in the near future.
Soggy patches and plugged balls proved to be no problem for Bob the Builder (and he had the beanie to prove who he was – stolen from the grand-kids in all probability) who put in the round of the day with a very nice +3. This was enough to move him up in the rankings by a fair margin but it was not enough to catch the first round leader. Gordon was only a point behind Bob on the day and so took out the David Ford by a blinding five point margin. He went very close to joining that elite group who have won both days and win a major. Perhaps, if he hadn’t chunked his second shot into the pond on the 17th he would have done it. Indicative of his game all day was the fact that his recovery shot after the penalty finished about 10m from the hole and he calmly sank the putt for a square.
The man that everybody thought might have Gordo reaching for the Butter Menthols started the day well with a birdie on the first. This was just one of the eight that we scored for the day but there are those that say that a birdie on the first presages a less than stellar round. One up at the turn was not so bad in the scheme of things but a run of gashes in the middle of the back (no, it wasn’t Gordon with a stiletto) let Porks down and he could only limp in with a -2 result for the day and an overall tally of +1. One of the low lights of Ryan’s round was on the 12th where he made the green with a good chance for another birdie. Nobody is quite sure how, but he managed to putt off the green and finally settled for a bogie and a scratch.
Bob’s beanie must have helped him keep his head down as well as warm and bogies on the holes with two strokes kept to plus signs flowing, particularly on the front nine. With fewer double strokes on the back, this translated into rather more squares and the daily tally of +3 propelled Bob into third place from his first week 7th spot. Whitey, Matty and Harry devised various means to gather themselves together to share in the reflected glory and championship points afforded those on the 4th step of the podium.
MattA squared the card this week with a pretty flash back nine (just 7 over the card) perfectly off-setting a fairly ordinary front nine. Pepsi, on the other hand, played the reverse turning last week’s square into a -4 this week. There was a certain amount of bad luck involved when a short putt on the 9th went into the hole, the ball hit the plastic insert and popped out an agonising couple of centimetres . The expletives do not bear repeating. Pepsi did take home a bit of comfort later in the round when he put his drive on the 17th (taking a Tiger line as Rachel put it) to about a couple of metres and sank the putt for the eagle and a raid on the Eagles Nest for three balls.
The first BallPin today was on the 12th and the only name on the card was Prez. And, the ball was not all that far from the hole. It is a bit unbelievable but Rob managed to rack up a gash with yet another four putt effort. Chrispy reckons that should be disqualification from winning the ball. The Beast was the only one to get his name on the card for the second BallPin on the 18th. The ProPin was back on the 15th and, despite some valiant efforts from the front tee block, nobody was able to get close enough and there will be a Jackpot to next week. While there were no ‘close up’ witnesses, the consensus is that Daniel probably slam-dunked the hole, the ball bounced and finished off the green and a gash resulted. Even without the plastic ring, the chances are…..
There were no draughties that anybody was prepared to report today although Damo did give his playing group a little heart flutter on a couple of occasions with less than characteristic ‘fluff’ shots on the 15th and 17th. After consultation with the Rules of Golf, there does not appear to be any limit specified on the amount of time that you can spend searching. Searching for a lost club, that is. This consideration arose as Noodles poked around in the trees to the left of the 4th tee after a rather vigourous helicopter shot.
Results for Saturday, 27 June 2020
1st Gordon Hill(+4, +2, +6) 2nd Ryan Porker(+3, -2, +1) 3rd Bob McDonald(-4, +3, -1) 4th Rodney White(-3, □, -3) 4th Matt Hunt(□, -3, -3) 4th Harry Boughen(-2, -1, -3) 5th Matthew Aforozis(-4, □, -4) 5th Andrew Petricola(□, -4, -4)
Seniors Results: 1st Gordon Hill (+4,2,6) 2nd Bob McDonald (+3,-4,-1) 3rd Harry Boughen (-1,-2,-3)
Nearest the Pin Results: ProPin15th Jackpot BallPin No 1 12th Robert Priems BallPin No 2 18th Bill Eastoe
Eagle’s nest Results: Eagle 17th Andrew Petricola